Intro & TraumaThis is my first attempt at building something more quiet that I've typically done (I haven't concerned myself with this previously). My last failure and trauma comes from getting a rig with a "CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX750 V2 750W". This thing's fan was loud at any amount of actual power consumption, I've even tried firing it up without any devices being connected it still was hell (40-45 DBA). I RMA-ed one of them, only to find the second one had the same annoying humming fan.

CPU Fan: Hyper 212 EVOI jumped the boat on this one after hearing it's has an amazing performance/value ration + it's quiet. 9 - 31 dBA (EU Version). I don't expect the CPU fan to be running @ more than 50%.

Board: ASRock Z87 Extreme4No specific reason for choosing this, just a standard board in it's segment. I expect this thing to come back with some value on average OC levels.

Video: MSI GeForce GTX760, 2GB, GDDR5, HAWK LEShows that fan noise @ load is 30 dba. I hope i can chip off a few by using a good case. The card is a beast otherwise. I plan on going with a solo setup for now with a possible option to get a second one in some time (as it always is and nobody gets it ;>)

Case: Fractal Design Define R4I expect to get a few dba off from the overall build by using this. I expect the fans are not audible @ idle and low/medium load.

PSU: DARK POWER PRO 10 | 550W CMIt's regarded as recommended on this site. The questions I have are:1) Should I consider dropping off a bit and getting a lower grade PSU from the same vendor? Like - STRAIGHT POWER E9 | 600W? Will it make any difference in DBA noise levels?2) Will these two (550-600) pull 2 x MSI GeForce GTX760 in SLI?3) Any alternatives in a bit lower price segment while keeping the dba @ bay?

Gfx: - You don't mention your monitor resolution - do you really need two GTX 760's?- Get the MSI Gaming version. The Hawk burns 10% more power, doesn't provide a 10% bump in fps, and is 3dB louder.

CPU cooler:- 212 Evo is a decent cooler for stock builds. Are you planning to overvolt the cpu or just overclock at stock voltage? If the former, you might want to upscale the cooler.

PSU:- your system's stressed load power is in the range of 300W (470W with SLI). Actual gaming load is closer to 250W (370W). - The DPP 10 is a nice PSU and you shouldn't hear the fan at your loads. The SP E9 is also a nice design. You give up modular cabling, the case fan controls tied to the PSU thermals, and a couple of dB. bequiet! has a nice comparison feature on their website.

Gfx:1920x1200 at this moment. I don't expect to buy a second monitor any time soon. I planned to go with the dual video card setup my last two builds but as 4-5 years have passed - the SLI/Crossfire technology didn't mature enough to provide real x2 performance for me to need this. This is the third time I'm considering this, thus leaving some spare PSU power.

I've considered "MSI GTX 760 TwinFrozr Gaming 2 GB". I won't exactly agree on 10% power/performance statement, the tests are there and show that the performance gain is exactly in 7-10% range, but an OCed Gaming edition pulls out 19% vs Hawk's 14.6%.Will i notice 3 dba noise in my build?

CPU cooler: I don't plan on playing with voltage OC. What are the better cooling options for silence/performance?

PSU:Completely agree on your statements, very detailed information. Their great website comparison tool confirms this. "the case fan controls tied to the PSU thermals"and case fan controls on "Fractal Design Define R4" are lacking? Are the fans audible in context of this build? Seeing as how I will have background noise from the GPU @25-26 dba, I'm considering to go with E9.

For sure: and providing the price is right, IMO a pair of slightly older ASUS GTX-660Ti DC-II could serve even better, noise-wise, than those GTX-760 Gaming.

MrYellow wrote:

CPU cooler: I don't plan on playing with voltage OC. What are the better cooling options for silence/performance?

Either a Scythe Mugen 4 or a Noctua NH-U14S would deliver. With prolly a fan swap, even the Thermalright HR-02 Macho and the Prolimatech Armageddon (the new black anodized "Blue Series" looks gorgeous) should work flawlessly.

Looks like my long reply got lost in the ether. Here's the shorter version.

GPU: I doubt SLI is worth it for 1920x1200. By the time games get complex enough to need the extra horsepower, another gen or two of cards have come out and you can just replace your single card with a new one at the same price point.

Some of the final components i went with were limited by product availability in my country.

the suggested CPU coolers were overly expensive compared (~2.5x times) to EVO 212.the new line of PSU from Corsair I didn't even consider, because of my experience with them.The gaming edition of 760 would be a nice option, but in the long run it doesn't really make a lot of difference.The PSU is something i'm still evaluating, i have a suspicion that it operates way above the stated noise levels, but this requires quite a lot of playing around.

I can't really say I'm blown away by how quiet my desktop is at this point. I expected more, probably because I got used to x220 notebook @ 0dbA. On the bright side - I already got complemented several times for how quiet the PC is.

As of right now I'm yet to ID which component is the noisiest, as it requires a lot of hassle - postponing it for now.

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